Four of the men were arrested in Enfield, a fifth in east London and two in Dartford.

Detectives are confident that a large number of items stolen during the burglary, described as ‘high value’, have been found in large bags from one address:

A number of large bags containing significant amounts of high value property have been recovered from one address.

All seven men have been taken to a London police station.

Searches at the addresses are ongoing.

The Met Police say:

Over the last six weeks Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad has worked relentlessly, supported by officers from covert policing and major crime commands, to track down those responsible, and recover what was taken.

An intense investigation has been undertaken to ensure the victims, the individual box owners, the small businesses and the wider Hatton Garden community can get justice.

The apology

The Met Police have conceded:

In respect of the police response to the intruder alarm we are now in a position to confirm that on this occasion our call handling system and procedures for working with the alarm monitoring companies were not followed.

Our normal procedures would have resulted in police attending the scene, and we apologise that this did not happen.

In this case, the owners had been notified by the alarm company and a security guard attended the building but saw nothing more than our officers would have done had they been deployed.

New Scotland Yard have added:

We are working closely with the alarm industry to improve the call handling and response processes at both ends to ensure nothing like this happens again. A more detailed investigation into the defeat of the alarm system at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd is ongoing and we will share the lessons learned with the business community in due course.

We recognise the huge public interest in this investigation. Since it is possible that a future prosecution will take place, we ask media to consider carefully the impact on future criminal proceedings of any detailed material that is published now.

This is a fast paced and ever expanding investigation. We will keep media as updated where possible, whilst ensuring we protect information that may become evidence that is put before a jury.

“We are not ‘Keystone Cops'”

Commander Peter Spindler said:

The Metropolitan Police takes these types of crimes very seriously. At times we have been portrayed as if we’ve acted like ‘Keystone Cops’. But I want to reassure you that in the finest traditions of Scotland Yard these detectives have done their utmost to bring justice for the victims of this callous crime.

They have worked tirelessly and relentlessly. They have put their lives on hold over the last six or seven weeks to make sure that justice is served and they have exemplified the finest attributes of Scotland Yard detectives.

We will be releasing further information throughout the next 24 hours.